Vacuum bottle filler



May 11 1926. v 1,584,324

A. RISSER VACUUM BOTTLE FILLER Filed April :25. 1923, 5 Sheets-Sheef 1 May 11 1926. '1,5 84;324

A. 1. RISSER I vA cuuM BOTTLE FILLER Filed April 23. 1923 5 sheets-sheet 2 72:51??? z'KM/IM v May 11 1926, 1,584,324

A. l. RISSER VACUUM BOTTLE FILLER Filed April 23, 1923 5 Sheets-Shef 5 lfi May 11 1926. 1,584,324

A. I. RISSER vAcuUM BOTTLE FILLER Filed April 23, 1923 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented May 11, 1926.

UNITED STATES" P'AT'ENT'OFF'ICE.

ARTHUR I. nrssnn, or CHICAGQ'ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO U. s. Bor'rLnRs MACHINERY. 00., or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION or ILLINOIS.

VACUUM BOTTLE FILLER.

, Application filed April 23,1923. Serial No. 633,931.

machines for use in the class of work in which bottles, prior to entering the machine are loaded with solid objectssuch as pickles and the likeand in passing through the machine filled with liquid such as brine, vinegar, etc., preparatory to final sealing.

The object of the invention is to provide a vacuum operated mechanism-for delivering liquid to the bottles as they pass through the machine and automatically takingv care of any surplus of liquid over the 'predeter mined, desired amount delivered to each bottle, so that as each bottle emerges-from the machine, it contains only the amount of liquid required to cover its content of pickles or the like.

The invention consists in mechanism for- 2 attaining the foregoing and other objects,

- satisfactory in use and not readily liable to get out of order, More particularly, the invention consists in novel, more or less detailed mechanism, for efliciently controlling the quantity and quality of liquid delivered to each bottle. Still more particularly,the invention consists in numerous features and details ofvconstruction which will be hereafter more fully set forth in the specification and claims.

Referring to the drawings in which like numerals designate the same-parts throughout the several views:

' Figure 1 is a central, 'side elevation, largely in section, of a complete machine illustrating this invention in its preferred form.

Figure 2 is a front view of the outside of the upper part of the machine whichwas removed in making the section of F igure 1.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the complete machine, taken on the line 33 of Figure 1. Figure 4 is a central, sectional view through the bottle filling mechanism on the line H of Figure 3, with theparts in the position shown in the right hand half of Figure 1. q v

Figure 5 is an inverted plan view on the F I line 5-5 of F lgure 4.

,irregular line 77 of 3, with parts broken away.

which can be easily and cheaply made; is

Figure 6 is a sectional, detailed, changed position view, taken on the line 66 of Figure 3, showing the bottle filling mechanism when the parts are in the position shown in the left hand half of Figure 1.

Figure 7 is an inverted,'plan view on the v Figure 6.- A

Figure 8 is an enlarged detail view of the vacuum control valve, taken from Figure Figure 9 i'sa sectional viewiof a modified form of valve construction, replacing that of Figure 6,

Figure 10 is a changed position view of part2 of Figure 9 corresponding to Figure a i The vacuum filling mechanism of this invention is shown applied to a bottle trans= porting mechanism which is well kno-wnin the art, the same includinga horizontally 7 j disposed table 10, rotatable in ahorizontal plane by means of a vertical shaft 12 carry ing' a' bevel gear 14 meshing with a bevel gear 16 on ahorizontal shaft 18, clutch con-' trolled at 20 -22 with a-pulley mechanism 24 driving a belt 26, carrying receptacles,

specifically as shown fruit jars 28, from oneside of the machine up to a point adjacent to the table 10 where, on striking track 30 theyare deflected from the belt 26onto the table which, after carrying them around liquid tank 32, delivers them through trackway'34-36 back tothe belt 26 from which they are finally manually removed.

This rotatable table 10 is supported upon 00 a stationary frame 38 resting on the floor 40 and having substantially above the table a horizontally disposed frame mechanism,

42 from which depend lugs ttcarrying' a stationary plate 46'provided with a central perforation 48 through'which a liquid supply pipe 50 passes, the same being adapted to deliver the liquid with which the bottles 28 are to be filled from a source outside? 3 the machine to the tank 32 and there, under the control of a conventional float 52-valve mechanism 54, not entering into-thisinvem tion, automatically maintain the liquid 56 in the tank at a constant level. I

Rigidly-carried by the table 10 on conventional upright rods 58 is an annular ring 60,

having formed in its outer face vertical trackways 62, preferably but not necessarily partially closed by flange plates 64, secured g in place by any Suitable means as, for instance, bolts 66,- there being slidable in each trackway and behind said plates 64' a vertically reciprocal bar 68, having attached to its lower end by any suitable means, as, for

instance, the bolts 70, a hood device 72 adapted to be moved by the reciprocation of itsbar 68 from the position shown in the left hand side of Figure 1, in which it entirely clears the bottle 28 below it, to the posias, for instance, a plurality of horizontal brackets 80, one projecting from each adjacent frame up-right 38. iThe track 78 is provided at its opposite ends with downwardly inclined cams 7 8 and 78 adapted, respectively, to allow a roller 76 to travel from the position shown at the left of Figure 2 to that shown at the right and to pick up a roller in the latter position and move it to the former position.

The result of the construction thus far described, which is more or less common to other machines in which-the vacuum system of this invention is not used, is that as table 10 is rotated in a clockwise direction, as viewedin Figure 1, the roller 76 controlling a given hood 72 over a bottle 28 just-passing onto the table 10 from track 30 will move at the elevation shown at the left of Figure 2 along track 7 8 until cam 7 8 is reached, whereupon it will descend that cam and allow the hood 72 to engage the particular bottle which is below it and remain in that position during approximately a half rotation of the table 10 or until cam 78 is reached, whereupon that particular roller. travels up that cam to track 78 thus elevat' ing the hood 72 off from the particular bottle which was below it and thus permitting the bottle to travel without obstruction from the hood through trackway 3436 back to belt 26.

It may be stated that, as iswell known in above the table. Bottles 28 passing from track 30 to table 10 are kept from jamming against track 30 and are gently forced one at a time into these notches 84 by a yielding roller 86, mounted on a lever arm 87 pivotedto a fixed point as 88 and pulled toward the passing bottles bya spring 90.

Again, as a bottle is about to leave table 10, it is forced out of its notch 84 by striking the adjacent end of member 36. In the final stages of the movement of a. bottle at this point, it has to'do the work of forcing the line of bottles ahead of it through trackway 34-36 onto belt 26 so a lever 92 pivoted at 94 and spring urged at 96 is provided to bear on the bottle and yieldingly hold it in place in its notch 84 until it is finally dug out by the inner or table end of track member 36.

Having a machine of the kind thus f described, the problem solved by this invention is to provide an automatically operating vacuum filling system to supply exactly the required amount. of liquidito a given bottle, cut off the supply of said liquid and clear out the filling system which was used for that particular bottle before it is used to fill another bottle.

The hood 72 has an outwardly flaring lower flange 98, enabling it to readily adjust itself to the neck 100 of an adjacent bottle 28 loaded with pickles or the like 102 which are to be covered with liquid 56 to substantially the top of the bottle neck as shown in Figure 4. The hood 72 carries immediately above this flange 98 a compressible cushion member 104 adapted to take bearing on the top edge of the bottle neck and seal it.' Extending'vertically through the central portion of this cushion 104 is a cylindrical block 106 provided with a central perforation 108 having a side port 110 leading into the bottle 28. Liquid is supplied to perforation 108 through a horizontal passage 111 in block 112 immediately above cushion 104, fed by means of a pipe 114 curved downwardly as shown so that when the parts are in the position showmin the right hand half of Figure 1, it

is immersed in the liquid 56 of tank 32 and said liquid can flow under the vacuum, hereafter described, from the tank through this pipe to passage 108 and thence through port 110 to the bottle. The outer or free arm of pipe 114 is of such a length that when the hood mechanism is in the position shown in the left hand half of Figure 1, the pipe clears the upper surface of liquid 56 asmaintained intank 32 by float 52. As clearly shown in through the lower end of block 106 except for a comparatively small perforation which is occupied by the lower end of a vertical pipe 116 which enters rm-independent air chamber 118 out out of the lower end of.

the drawings, passage .108 does not pass block 106 and closed by a plate 120. This chamber 118 has an upwardly extending diagonal port-122 opening into an adjacent bottle 28 at the level to which liquid 56 is to be inserted in the bottle. In the vacuul-n operation of the inechanism'thns far dcscribed, suctionv is applied to a hose 124 on the 111))91' end of pipe 116 to draw air out of bottle 28 in the position of Figure "l.- (lhc right hand half of Fig. 1) thus sucking liquid 56 from tank 32 via pipe 114 and sociated passages into the bottle until the upper end of passage- 122 is reached, whereupon any surplus liquid traverses passage 122, chamber 118 and pipe 116 to hose124.

The external case of hood 72 has an arm or bracket 126 provided with a central perforation 128 equipped with a downwardly extending pipe 130 parallel to pipe 114 and terminating on a level with the lower end of end of a vertically reciprocal pipe slidable' inside of perforation 128. But, inthe position of Figure 6, the lower end of pipe 140 ceases to be closed and obstructed by member 138. The left hand end of hose 124, as seen in Fig. 4 is fitted onto anipple 142 extending from one side of reciprocal pipe 140. In the particular case here illustrated, a slot 144 is provided in one side of the part of the bracket 126 which encloses pipe 140 so that this nipple 142 may move vertically in it. For purposes of illustration, the drawing of this slot in Figures 4 and 6 is distorted to show in one view a sec tion through the slot and in the other a dot ted face view. It does not make any differ: ence where the hose 124 is attached to this reciprocal pipe 140 and the slot construction is only provided in order to reduce the necessary length of the pipe.

The mechanism by which pipe 140 is moved from the position of Figure 4 to that of Figure 6 to thereby open the lower end of pipe 140 to ports 134, includes the collar 146 rigidly secured to the outside of the pipe by any suitable means as, for instance, a screw 148, a spring 150 about the pipe above this collar, the upper end of the spring hearing against a fixed member'152, in the particular case here illustrated rigid with the Q described pipe 140 is clear bracket 126 through an upwardly extending member .154 and a lever 156 pivoted at 158 on an extension of bracket 126 in such a manner that when the right hand end 160 of lever 156 strikes against ring 60, during the upward movement of the adjacent hood 72, the left hand end 162 of the lever strikes ring 146 and forces it and consequently pipe 140 upward against the action of'spring 150. The obvious result of this construction is that, except when the parts are forced into the position of Figure 6, wherein as. just of valve member 138, spring 150 holds pipe 140 in engagemcut with saidvalve member 138. I

()pcratively connected to the upper end of each reciprocal pipe 140-there being one -that as member 168 and such pipe for eachhood 72 around the machine-is a hose 164 leading to an independent port 166 in the bottom of a circular plate 168, sustained by cross bars 170 from the top of ring 60, the result being that this plate rotates in unison with the ring. Plate 168 is provided in its upper face with .recess 172 entered by stationary plate 46,

heretofore described. The fit between members 46 and 168 is a valve fit, viz: an air tight one and the under side of plate 46-is provided with a plurality of segmental,

. separated perforations 174176-17 8, so arranged about the circumference of the plate ring 60 are rotated, these recesses will register in succession with the various ports 166 heretofore described, leading to hose pipes 164 and thence through pipes 140 and hose pipes 124 to bottle hood 72. Recess 174 is entered from the top of plate 46 by a hose leading to a source of compressed air. in the same manner by a hose 182 leading to avacuum pump; while recess 178 is similarly entered by a hose 184 leading to atmos- Recess 176 is entered pheric air. The result of this construction is that as a particular bottle hood 72 is passing under recess 174, compressed air is forced from pipe 180 through the piping system of that particular hood to thoroughly clean out all of its ports and passages, particularly port or ports 122; that while the same hood is passing under recess 176, vacuum suction is applied to the device to draw liquid 56 from tank 32 into the adjacent bottle 28, any surplus of said operation being carried over into pipe 140 above closed valve 138 as shown in Figure 4; andithat, while said hood is passing under recess 176, which is while pipe 140 is in the elevated position of Figure 6, atmospheric air passes from pipe 184 through the system and thereby allows the liquid which had accumulated in pipe 140, as shown in Figure 4, to now pass through ports 134 down pipe 130 and back to tank 32.

These passages or recesses 174-176 and 178 are so positioned with reference to cam 78 andits depending ends 78 and 78 that the compressed air is admitted from hose 180 just beforeeach particular bottle cap or hood 72 descends onto the particular bottle which is to be filled; the sucking operation through pipe 182 takes'place while the bot.- tle is traversing the right hand half of table 10, as shown in Fig. 1, and the admission of atn'iospheric air through pipe 184 takes place as ram 7 8 is just ready to remove the particular hood 72 from its adjacent bottle and cause the roller 76 controlling that particular hood to again traverse the upper stages of track 78.

Hununari'zing the above operation of the entire machine, a bottle 28, entering wheel 10 from track 30, travels for a time without a bottle hood 72 in contact with it, during which time the air passage apparatus of the hood which is to be applied to it is cleaned out by compressed air from pipe 180. As this particular bottle passes bani end 78% the hood for that particular bottle descends on-' to it, the vacuum apparatus over pipe 182 is applied thus drawing liquid 56'into the bottle until the same fills up and the surplus passes into its particular pipe 140. As the bottle approaches cam end 78 the vacuum pull is shut ofl', atmospheric air is admitted and at the same time, pipe 140 for that particular'bottle is moved to the position of Figure 6, thus opening valve 188 at the lower end of pipe 140 and permitting the surplus liquid in said pipe to return to the tank 32. As the roller controlling the particular bottle hood strikes cam end 78*, the hood is lifted oil' from the bottle and the bottle containing the exact amount of liquid desired-(regardless of variations in the bulk.

of the solid contents of the different bottles) passes through track 3436 back to belt 26- which carries it away.

Figures 9 and 10 show a modified form of valve mechanism for controlling the surplus liquid delivered from the top of a bottle 28 over into pipe 140 in the preferred construction. In this alternative construction, bracket 126 is replaced by bracket .126 in which pipes 140 and130 of the preferred construction are replaced by two vertically extending liquid receptacles190'and 192, arranged ,one at a higher level than the other so that there is an intercommunicating pas- Y sage 194 between them, closed by a floatvalve mechanism 196 in the lower receptacle 192. This receptacle 192 is openat the bottom, except for crossbars 198 which keep the float 196- from falling out of it when the mechanism is in the position of Figure 10 with the float 196 clear of the liquid 56 in tank 32- in which receptacle 1.92 is immersible. Receptacle 190 hasan upper discharge port 200 communicating with pipe 16% as in the prior construction, said port "being closable by a valve 202carried by float rise and close valve 202, whereupon the vacuum suction apparatus ceases to draw any more liquid into and through that particular bottle 28. The liquid thus in receptacle 190 remains'there as in the prior construction until such time as the combined action of the rotating table 10 and cam '78 causes receptacle 192 to be withdrawn from tank 32, viz: moved from'theposition of Figure 9to'that of Figure 10, whereupon float 196 settles as shown in Figures 10 thus opening passage 194: and allowing the accumulated liquid in receptacle 190 to return to main liquid tank 32. In other respects, the device, when equipped with this alternative-structure, operates just as does the preferred form of device. In other words, the two valve mechanisms are identical in result, notwithstanding the fact that va1ve 138 of the preferred construction is opened by the end 160 of lever 156 striking ring 60, while in the alternative construction, the passage 194 is opened by the descent of float 196 when it is elevated partially or wholly out of the liquid 56 in tank 32. I

For convenience, the term bottle is used in the claims to refer to any receptacle with or without physical contents to be filled with liquid.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters- Patent is 1. In a bottle filling machine, a reciprocable filling head, a vacuum conduit adapted to be placed in communication through said filling head with a bottle to draw airtherefrom, another conduit'adapted to be placed in communication with a source of liquid supply and with the bottle whereby liquid will flow into the bottle when air is drawn therefrom, a hollow member included in said vacuum conduit forming a trap for excess liquid flowing into the bottle and drawn into said vacuum conduit, said member having an outlet opening and a valve for controlling the same, means normally maintaining said valve closed with respect to said outlet opening, and means whereby said valve is opened by movement of said filling head in one direction:

2. In a'bottle filling machine, a reciprocable filling head movable to lowered and elevated positions into and out of engagementwith a bottle, vacuum and liquid conduits communicating with said head whereby air may be withdrawn from the bottle and liquid supplied thereto, a hollow member included in said vacuum conduit through which passes air withdrawn from the bottle and into which excess liquid supplied to the bottle is adapted to collect, said member being movable and having an .outlet opening and-a valve controlling same, said valve being'adapted .to be opened by predetermined movement imparted to said member, spr ng means maintaining said valve closed dur ng removal of air from the bottle, a-connection between said filling head and said member and means whereby movement of said filling head out of engagement with the bottle opcrates-said connection to inove said member in a direction to open said valve to permit liquid collected within the member to flow therefrom.

3. In a bottle filling machine, a filling head movable to lowered and elevated positions 7 into and out of engagement with a bottle, vacuum and liquid conduits communicating with said head whereby air may be withdrawn from the bottle and liquid supplied thereto, a hollow -member included in said vacuum conduit through which passes air Withdrawn from the bottle and into which excess liquid supplied to the bottle is adapted to collect, said member being movable and having an outlet opening, a valve' controlling said opening,

said valve being adapted to be opened by predetermined movement imparted to said member, a spring maintaining said member at its limit of movement in one direction and also maintaining said valve closed during removal of air from the bottle, and a lever between a portion of said filling head and said member operable by movement of the filling head out of engagement with a bottle to move said member against the force of said spring in a direction to open said valve to permit liquidcollected within said member to flow therefrom.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto su scribed my name.

ARTHUR I. RISSER. 

